After my recent visit to the Zoo’s in San Diego I’ve had a craving for more wildlife. I don’t think I’ll be getting to Africa too soon but luckily Arizona has a few places worth visiting. I took a trip to the Wildlife World Zoo in West Phoenix and was pleasantly surprised! This isn’t the biggest, or most visited Zoo in the state but it does have the largest collection of rare and exotic animals.. and boasts an especially large amount of reptiles and fish that I haven’t seen anywhere else.
Hand Feeding Giraffes
One of the coolest things to do here was the giraffe feeding station. You stand on a tall wood platform where just the giraffe’s head can reach over, they stick their enormous tongues out and you hand feed them! It only costs a quarter (25 cents) for a handful of food.
Check out a video of them sticking their tongues out to get fed!
The zoo offers a few other activities besides the giraffe feeding:
- African Safari Train (5/8 mile ride) $4.00 each
- Australian Boat Ride $2.00 each
- Lory Parrot Feeding
- Petting Zoo ($.50 for feeding)
- Wildlife Demonstrations (3 times a day)
- Skyride (pictured below) $4.00 each
- Kids Carousel $2.50 each
Reptiles
A very large collection of rare and exotic reptiles were on display.. indoors and out. Including the world’s rarest reptile, the all white albino alligator.
River Monsters
4 large buildings full of aquariums house sharks, eels, all sorts of fish, penguins, and a huge diversity of aquatic life. One of the more unique buildings was just for “river monsters” .. filled with fish and creatures full large teeth!
Alligator Snapper
Big Cats
Another first for me.. Not just one, but two white tigers! There was also a baby white tiger cub, panthers, jaguars and more! As a big cat lover I was very impressed!
Grumpy Leopard
The Usual Suspects
In addition to the more rarely seen animals and creatures they had many of the usual mammals hanging around that you’d expect to see at a zoo.
Camel
Zebras
Smelly rhinoceros
Playing meercats
Baby kangaroo
Curious Ostrich
Missing a horn!
Birds and More Birds
There were quite a few cages full of unique and interesting looking birds, dozens of species.. unfortunately I was only able to get good shots of the macaws.
Overall it was time spent well and a fun day out at the zoo. Find out more about the Wildlife World Zoo at their official website: www.wildlifeworld.com
Love the photos – especially the black & whites and fighting meerkats. Did you get to feed the kangaroos?
Thanks Kristi! It’s always difficult trying to shoot through zoo fences and dirty glass but this new camera I’m using is awesome. The Kangaroos were being pretty lazy when I was there so no feeding them. But I did get a feel of slimy giraffe tongue!
I especially love your reptile photos.And feeding giraffes looks like fun.
I didn’t do their reptiles (or a lot of things) justice… they had so many it just would have taken more than a single visit to photograph it all! Not to mention the smaller glass enclosures and hiding critters don’t help 🙂
Superb photos – especially the giraffes!
All these clicks are amazing. No one can ignore this post. I love your first three clicks in which you are feeding to Giraffes. Big cats and birds pictures are also beautiful. Love all this stuff. Thanks for writing.
OMG, that’s stunning! Love these little cuties x